This is an application for continued support of an Institutional Training Grant in CNS Plasticity and Recovery of Function after CNS Injury. The request is for support of four predoctoral and four postdoctoral trainees, and one short term (i.e. 3 month) fellow. The long-range goal of this training program is to prepare scientists and physicians who will be in a position to define the mechanisms underlying recovery of function following central nervous system injury and to identify and implement methods to enhance that recovery. This application brings together basic scientists and clinician scientists at two institutions in Washington, D.C. (Georgetown University and the National Rehabilitation Hospital). The predoctoral trainees will receive their Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Program in Neurosciences at Georgetown (a broad-based, non-departmental graduate program leading to a Ph.D. in Neuroscience). A comprehensive training program aimed at recovery of function after CNS injury has been developed for pre- and postdoctoral training. The Program Director and Training Faculty are long-time mentors and researchers and the Program Director has both clinical and basic science experience in recovery of function after CNS injury. The training environment fosters collaborative, multidisciplinary research efforts of both faculty and trainees. Many of the faculty have previous and ongoing collaborations; students are encouraged to seek co-mentorship between faculty with complementary research interests. In addition to formal coursework and laboratory research rotation, pre- and postdoctoral trainees participate in an ongoing seminar series, joint Neurology, Neurosurgery, Neuroscience grand rounds, national professional meetings, a journal club with special emphasis on CNS plasticity, regeneration and recovery of function, intensive laboratory research and training in writing and reviewing manuscripts, grantsmanship, and are provided mentored teaching opportunities in the Medical Neuroscience course. Trainees are also given many opportunities to interact with visiting scientists and to present their research at local and national meetings. An experienced and well-funded group of 21 faculty from 8 different departments with strong training records, a wide range of research interests and expertise relevant to plasticity and recovery of function after CNS injury will participate in training. [unreadable] [unreadable]